The recently released sports game NHL 20 is proving to be a fun entry to the series and players seem to be loving the new features rolled out like Squad Battles. Even with the new changes there’s a lot of carryover from previous entries in the series making it a familiar experience with new thrills.
If you’re new to the game or a long-time fan coming back after a hiatus there are some important techniques and tips to keep in mind when playing. Whether it’s key game mechanics, patience, or getting under your opponent’s skin here are some tips to keep in mind that’ll get you to pro status.
10 Learn Handling
Knowing how to handle the puck effectively, especially when outnumbered is an important skill to have that’ll take you far in this game and its various modes of play. This is especially important in Ones Eliminator as it’s a 1v1v1 meaning anytime you have the puck you’ll be outnumbered and have no one to pass to.
It’ll take some practice and it can get frustrating but doing your due diligence and learning how to handle the puck effectively is a surefire way to improve skill, raises overall scores, and dominate in PVP modes.
9 One-Timers
Another important skill to pick up and master is performing a one-timer. At its simplest one-timers are shots that occur immediately after the puck is passed to another player. That quick one-two punch is usually a sure-fire way to get around a goalie’s defenses and score.
It takes some timing and players have noted it’s best to shoot the puck just before it reaches the player it’s being passed to. Do it too soon and the puck will fly past the player, do it too late and the goalie will block the shot. Take a little while to practice this essential skill and you’ll be racking up more points in no time.
8 Be Patient
Like any sport this game rewards players that have patience to wait for prime opportunities. It is far better to take your time and look for openings to seize upon than to try and bulldoze your way through the opposition.
This is especially true in Ones Eliminator as you’re going up against two opponents and no amount of aggression will get you very far. Handle the puck well, look for openings to exploit, and wait for the right shot. This is true in any mode and you’ll get a lot farther faster by taking your time.
7 Check Yourself
It’s tempting to let your annoyance get the better of you or make things happen by checking opponents or swiping for the puck. Nine times out of ten this is a bad idea as your players will start racking up penalties and you’ll give your opponent’s free shots.
This isn’t to say you should never do a body or poke check. Just be careful when you do it, make sure it makes the most tactical sense at the time and there’s low risk of a penalty occurring. Don’t spam these moves or you’ll find yourself in the penalty box far too often and losing the game.
6 Exploit Other Players’ Patience
On this topic it’s a great strategy to get your opponents to make these mistakes by making them impatient. Players want to play and taking your time by getting better positioning and looking for openings is a surefire way to make those with less patience snap and do something reckless.
Professional players are more immune to this, but you’ll see many, many online players quickly getting out of favorable positions, tripping your players up more often, and performing desperate shots or passes to make the game progress. This gives you more openings to take advantage of and makes the match a whole lot easier for you.
5 Let CPUs Have A Turn
This is a mistake players will often make if they’ve been playing NHL games since the older days of the genre, back when CPUs weren’t as smart and it was best to have the puck in your possession at all times. Technology has changed and the coding for computer players is a little better so don’t be afraid to let them have the puck for a while.
If you demand they pass you the puck whenever it’s not in your possession you’ll risk an interception, give the opponent a chance to score, and wont get the puck anyway. Be patient, have the CPU pass when it’s safe or even provide some assistance, those artificial players aren’t that bad these days.
4 Use Hustle Sparingly
Yet another entry berating you about patience. It can be tempting to spam your hustle and get your player to move around the ice faster. Unfortunately if you do this too often they’ll often be winded and their overall speed and efficiency will decrease faster than usual.
Like scoring or passing, wait for prime opportunities to use hustle. A burst of speed for critical moments every now and then will get you much, much farther then simply sprinting around the ice all the time. Be patient and use it sparingly.
3 Do Your Dailies & Weeklies
A great way to learn the various aspects of the game, gain experience and obtain more players is to do your daily and weekly tasks. These will often require you to play various game modes, do different challenges and test your skills in different ways.
You can use these to gauge your overall skill by how often and how fast you’re able to complete these challenges. If you’re struggling to complete all of your daily challenges and the amount of playtime you have isn’t the issue, then chances are you need to work on honing your skills.
2 Get The Right Coach
This is a tip for Franchise mode, but it’s so important that this single factor can often determine how often you’ll win or lose your matches. Having the best coach with the highest stats is not the best strategy, having the coach who’s best for your players is what you want.
You can have the best coach in the game and have the best players, but if they’re not compatible you’ll struggle. Identify the coach that matches your teams needs or be willing to swap out a few players regardless of their ratings to make your team more compatible with the coach and your team will start to perform better.
1 Tactics Beats Brawn
The best thing to keep in mind with this game is that tactics, patience, and a little bit of skill will always beat those who are aggressive and impatient, even if they are more skilled. A mediocre team handled by a less skilled but patient player can outperform an excellent team played by someone with lots of skill but limited patience.
Play the long game, pass the puck around, learn to handle well, wait for openings to exploit, learn to do one-timers, get your opponent to make mistakes, and you’ll be a pro in no time.